Ted Mahsun

We went to the Payless Warehouse Sale at the 3K Inn on Saturday. There were many books, as is usual with Payless's sales, but this time I found the selection wanting. The books were the same old books we've already seen and bought in previous warehouse sales. I decided to concentrate on finding books of genres that I had not bought before at a Payless sale. I came out with two Dashiell Hammets, one Louis L'amour (don't ask), a book of writings by Marx and Engel (because I'm a closet socialist), and two classic sf books, Starburst by Frederick Pohl, and The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (probably the third time I bought this oft-lost book). I also "accidentally" bought two sf novels which I have absolutely no idea how it got into my book pile. I only noticed them after the guy at the counter had already scanned them in, and by then it was too late to cancel (without making a big fuss). The big downer is that both the sf books are ...

Venue: 2nd Floor, 3K Sports Complex, Subang Jaya Date: 3 - 5 August 2007 Time: 10:00am - 7:00pm

Controversy! It seems our local bookstores have been getting the bad end of the stick : KUALA LUMPUR: Four major bookstore chains -- MPH, Popular, Harris and Times -- have confirmed they will not sell Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows in protest against selected hypermarkets being given hefty discounts to sell the book. The recommended retail price of RM109.90 is being violated by hypermarkets advertising and selling it at RM69.90, they said. The four chains, with a total of 100 outlets nationwide, said they were protesting the indiscriminate price discount and wanted to show customers that they were not "blatantly profiteering" from them. Officials from the four bookstores held a meeting at 4pm Friday to announce their stand. They said they were also cancelling all promotional events associated with the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, and apologised to their customers. However, the said they would honour all pre-orders. Author J.K. Rowling has said tha...

Didn't think I'd go this time as I'm not really in the best state of finances right now... but I must've been trapped in their tractor beam and they managed to rope me in anyhow. I managed to escape by the skin of my teeth with these: 1. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes I've been eying this for ages at Borders. 2. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson Recommended by a friend a couple years back. Feel slightly guilty it took me this long to actually get the book. How long more will it take for me to read it? 3. Louisiana Power & Light by John Dufresne Passed the first-page test. Looks like it could be an enjoyable read. 4. Maybe the Moon by Armistead Maupin From the writer of the Tales from the City series. 5. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer OMGWTFBBQ! I've been looking for this for yoinks! (Big Sherlock Holmes fan here!) 6. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver I hope I haven't already bought this. 7. We Were the Mulvaney...

Just when you thought your wallet was safe... I received the following information in an email from the lovely Laydiefa : Times The Bookshop is organizing its year end warehouse sale. Details are as follows: Date: 15th Sept - 24th Sept 2006 (15th Sept - TPC Member Special Preview) Time: 12pm - 8pm (preview & weekday); 10am - 8pm (weekend) Contact: 012-608 3569 Venue: 2nd Floor, Dataran Hamodal, Block A, (behind Colgate), Jln Bersatu 13/4, Seksyen 13, 46200, PJ Please PRESENT your TPC card upon entering for the preview day. And here's a map: Those peeps at Times are truly evil! It's bad enough we've all spent our lifesavings at Payless earlier in the month, why would anyone want to hold a warehouse sale at the end of the month when the salary's been squandered?!? They always do this!!! *jumps up and down raging and seething*

I went on Saturday. Woke up late - was very tired that day - and ended up going there around 3pm. It rained half-way there. And heavily too. Visibly was very low and I could barely see the bonnet, what more the cars in front of me. We managed to reach YMCA hall safely, was even lucky enough to get a parking space in that heavy rain. And yet, we couldn't get out of the car to walk to the hall. Not because we didn't have an umbrella, but because the car park was flooded with water rising 2 inches high! So we stayed in the car for a while, listening to the Dixie Chicks singing "I Hope", waiting for the rain to stop. I didn't want us to wade through the water. My shoes would've survived, of course, but my gf's shoes wouldn't have. And I couldn't drive back out and send her to the hall first for fear of losing my parking space. So in the end, I managed to reverse the car a bit to where the ground was a little higher and wasn't flooded, let my gf ou...

Remember hor... this weekend got sale: Payless Stock Clearance Sale 8 - 10 September 10am - 7pm (Click on image to enlarge)

Choices, choices. Regret not going, or regret going? Payless Stock Clearance Sale 8 - 9 September 10am - 7pm (Click on image to enlarge)

Went again to the Big Bookshop Warehouse Clearance sale again. Previous visit documented here . (Though why I called it "Big Bookstore " is beyond me... oh well, my bad.) Bought more books. To those wondering how I managed to get these books even though I've said that I'm broke... well, all I can say is, "Thanks, dad!" I have no shame whatsoever when it comes to books. The spoils: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil The Book Nobody Read by Owen Gingreich I'll Go To Bed At Noon by Gerard Woodward My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey Bliss by Peter Carey Jack Maggs by Peter Carey Collected Stories by Peter Carey The Ode Less Travelled (book and audiobook) by Stephen Fry ( recommended by Sympozium and Sharon ) The Colour by Rose Tremain The Darkness of Wallis Simpson by Rose Tremain Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie (finally broke down and got it...) Good thing I went again. A lot of these books weren't there when I ...

From my inbox: PAY LESS BOOKS Event Calendar for July - August 2006: 1. PESTA BUKU SELANGOR '06 Date : 25 - 31 July 2006 Time : 10:00am - 10:00pm Venue : PKNS COMPLEX, SHAH ALAM 2. ACADEMIC BOOKFEST 2006 Date : 27 - 30 July 2006 Time : 10:00am - 10:00pm Venue : MID VALLEY EXHIBITION CENTRE 3. BOOK EXPO 2006 Date : 29 August - 3 September 2006 Time : 10:00am - 10:00pm Venue : PUTRA WORLD TRADE CENTRE We have a great deal of discounts & promotions waiting for you. Hope to see you there!!! No! Stay back foul temptresses! Thou shalt not tempt me with more cheap books!

My dad called me up and told me that there was a book sale by Big Bookstore in Atria that would last till the end of the month. He urged me to go because he saw hardcovers of Salman Rushdie's "Shalimar the Clown" being sold for Rm18.90 and thought I'd be interested. I said, I would be interested if they were paperback, but I said I'd go anyway. Good thing I did... a lot of good novels available at RM10.00 each. Here is what I managed to escape with: Fiction The Double by Jose Saramago Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver Black Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov; translated by Michael Glenny Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres Bird Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Where's My Cow by Terry Pratchett Non-Fiction To Sir With Love by E.R. Braithwaite Cities by John Reader Visiting Mrs Nabokov (and other excursions) by Martin Amis Classic Railway Journeys of the West by Max Wade-Matthews I repurchased a cop...

Have been quite busy lately, so it was a blessing in disguise when my wisdom tooth decided it was time to come out. I thanked any diety that was willing to listen to me that I was given a chance to rest. I took the day off, let the wisdom tooth out at a dentist's in USJ, then went to the Payless Warehouse Sale at the 3K Inn in Subang. The selections weren't half bad. These are what I walked away with (my wallet RM63.50 lighter than it had been): Fiction Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos Dark Star by Alan Furst Valis by Philip K. Dick Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire The Alienist by Caleb Carr More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupuin Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton The Information by Martin Amis Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, translated by Lowell Bair Riding the Rap by Elm...

And yet another money sink appears: At least the organisers have the good sense to organise this sale when my salary's already in , unlike some other bookstore chains *cough*Times*cough* who like to organise their sales at the end of the month when the money well's dry. Can't read the location? It's at: 3K Sports Complex & Inn, Jalan SS13/1, Persiaran Kewajipan, 47500 Subang Jaya